“Young men who grow up in homes without fathers are twice as likely to end up in jail as those who come from traditional two-parent families...those boys whose fathers were absent from the household had double the odds of being incarcerated — even when other factors such as race, income, parent education and urban residence were held constant.” (Cynthia Harper of the University of Pennsylvania and Sara S. McLanahan of Princeton University cited in “Father Absence and Youth Incarceration.” Journal of Research on Adolescence 14 (September 2004): 369-397.)
That was 10 years ago. I am sure the numbers have only gotten worse as the marriage rate drops.
Kind of reinforces the idea that if the father isn’t there, all sorts of people, including the leader of the gang, have the potential to fill the role.